Since 25 May 2020, the City of Cape Town has issued more than 10 100 flood kits to reduce the impact of flooding caused by heavy rains this winter season as experienced across the metro. These kits are distributed across the metro, but especially in more vulnerable areas such as informal settlements where residents have often settled in flood-prone areas or wetlands.
Various City departments including Informal Settlements Management, Roads and Stormwater, and Disaster Risk Management do their utmost to help residents by assisting with emergency materials such as flood kits and plastic sheeting, constructing canals to lead flood water away from affected areas where possible, and monitoring high risk priority areas on a daily basis. They also determine flooding risks while giving advice to residents on how to reduce this. In general, the worst flood-affected areas from the recent and ongoing rain are newly illegally occupied areas where people have settled on flood plains, on wetlands or other unsuitable land.
‘Informality in accommodation is a common occurrence in Cape Town, and cities across South Africa, and is brought on by increased urbanisation. The associated intense demand for accommodation brings about a number of specific challenges, such as unplanned settlements that are located on flood-prone, lower lying areas or in wetlands or retention ponds. This is why the City continues to do its best to prevent the illegal occupation of land. Newly-invaded areas were the most flooded over the rainy season.
‘The City does not have the resources to cater to newly formed settlements, often immediately asking for services, at the expense of planned service provision. When the settlements form, one can also immediately see the illegal electricity connections which of course is a great danger to those doing the connections, residents and children in particular. Often the illegal connections cause large area outages from infrastructure being overloaded. There needs to be a societal consensus that we do not move forward and make progress when land is invaded. One only needs to look at the flooding misery where newly invaded areas have been the most affected by recent storms. The City does what it can to assist flood-impacted residents but simply does not have the resources to continuously divert funds from planned projects in our Integrated Development Plan. The money we are getting from the national government is decreasing but the settlements and basic services needs are increasing and the City cannot afford the large-scale, orchestrated land invasions we are seeing.
‘The City’s new Human Settlements Strategy was recently proposed to help address the challenges and shortcomings, including increased instances of land invasion, of the current housing system. The strategy is focused on partnerships, collaboration and innovation. All efforts fail though if unplanned settlements continue to be created.
‘The high densities without dedicated emergency access ways also make it difficult to deliver basic and emergency services in times of fire and floods. Often the settlements are formed on private land or land where services cannot or may not be delivered. The City does what it can to deliver housing opportunities, upgrade informal settlements and prepare for flooding and other natural disasters, and partnerships are key. Partnerships are also a key element of the strategy.
‘The provision of services is especially difficult this year because of the COVID-19 crisis with the risks of virus spread and City staff thin on the ground attending to all manner of service requests. Work continues and City teams have worked non-stop over the past three months to assist residents, but we ask our residents and communities to help us by implementing some no cost tips to reduce the risk of flooding, such as reporting blocked drains and clearing gutters. Residents are also encouraged to make their own sandbags and dig furrows around their dwellings as a DIY drainage system. These are just some of the ideas which our residents can use to empower themselves to protect against the risk of flooding. Importantly, residents are urged not to illegally occupy wetlands, detention ponds, floodplains and other unsuitable land for habitation,’ said the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi.
Help to reduce flood risk:
- Clear out drainage systems on properties
- Raise the floor level of a structure so that it is higher than the natural ground level
- Make sandbags with a long-sleeved top filled with sand
- Dig trenches around the house to divert water away
- Report blocked drains, intakes and illegal dumping – illegal dumping in the stormwater canals and sewers make flooding worst
- Waterproof roofs, clear gutters and remove dead tree branches
- The risk of fires during winter especially is also huge. Never leave an open flame unattended.
Emergencies can be reported to the City’s Public Emergency Communication Centre by dialling 107 from a landline or 021 480 7700 from a cellphone.
Anonymous tip-offs welcomed:
Residents can give anonymous tip offs if they are aware of illegal activity that is taking place; that has happened or is still to happen. Please call 112 from a cell phone (toll free) and 107 from a landline or 021 480 7700 for emergencies.
View and comment on the draft Human Settlements Strategy
Please visit www.capetown.gov.za/haveyoursay. In addition, the executive summary of the strategy is available in three official languages at subcouncil offices during the public participation period which closes on 30 November 2020.